Predictors of pathological gambling behaviours in parents population in Nigeria

The increasing incidence of psychological pains, burnout, and anxiety among gamblers in Nigeria is high. This is because pathological gambling (PG) is on the rise and it is linked to many social vices such as stealing, drug abuse, and sexual abuse. It is important to investigate the trajectories of PG in Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey design was employed in our study with 197 participants sampled from 28 gambling venues in Nigeria made up the study’s sample size. Of the 197, 131 (66.5%) were males and 66 (33.5%) were females. 50 (25.4%) were within the age range of 20–30 years, 42 (21.3%) were within 31–40 years, 40 (20.3%) were within 41–50 years, 35 (17.8%) were within 51–60 years, and 30 (15.2%) were within 61 and above. Using the hierarchical regression analysis, our finding revealed a significant association between psychological distress and our respondents’ pathological gambling behaviour whereas none of the sociodemographic variables made a significant contribution to their pathological gambling behaviour. We concluded that gamblers’ psychological well-being is crucial to understanding their problematic gambling behaviours in the context of a developing nation such as Nigeria, and that this could be similar among our respondents. Implications of our findings were highlighted.


Problem and motivation
The present rates of gambling activities are becoming alarming and bemoaning.Some people who gamble tend to develop health-related problems such as an increased risk of alcohol and substance abuse disorders 22 , high risk of suicide impulses, higher anxiety 16 and poor general health 23 .Studies have revealed that tense relationships, delinquency, illegal behaviour, depression, and even suicide are problems gamblers face in society 24,25 .In addition, some of them suffer from physical disabilities and some health problems 26 .Worst still, studies indicated that between 4 and 8% of gamblers have tense gambling problems, while another 10-15% are at-risk 25,27,28 .
In the Nigerian case, gamblers appear to be engaging in inappropriate behaviours such as fighting, stealing, weapon carrying, heavy alcohol consumption, illicit drug abuse, and destruction of public properties each time they lose valued material things 3,29,30 .The researchers' observation tends to show that young, middle, and older adults exhibit disruptive gambling behaviour that impacts their interpersonal relationships with their family and friends.Experiences have revealed that young adults unceasingly surf the internet in order to gamble against academic or vocational pursuits 30 .It seems worrisome as some of them who are pathological gamblers are

Participants
The participants of this study were selected from different gambling venues in Enugu state Nigeria.A total of 197 people were signed up to participate in the study.The researchers with help of research assistants adopted an accident sampling technique which helped the researcher to collect 197 comprising young, middle, and older adults.Also, there are male and female, student gamblers and out-of-school gamblers, some are married while others are not with different affiliations (e.g., religion, ethnicity) as well as different academic qualifications.More details about the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants can be found in Table 1.Three 28 betting centres were purposively selected especially where the researchers met people who engaged in gambling.By doing this, some criteria were applied while choosing bet shops.These include the shops must be located either in Ebonyi or Enugu State, must have a record book for record-keeping, and must operate according to the National Lottery Act 2005.To ensure that the number of participants was statistically accurate and adequate enough as suggested by Faul 40 .Faul's Gpower statistical tool confirmed the power of the sample size.
Table 1 shows the socio-demographic information of participants.It shows that 131 (66.5%) male and 66 (33.5%) female respondents responded to the measures.Of all the total number, 50 (25.4%)were within the age range of 20-30 years, 42 (21.3%)were within 31-40 years, 40 (20.3%) were within 41-50 years, 35 (17.8%) were within 51-60 years, and 30 (15.2%) were within 61 and above.86 (43.7%) respondents had low social economic status, 78 (39.6%) had a moderate social economic status, and 33 (16.8%) of them had high social economic status.In terms of the number of children they have, 112 (56.9) respondents have below six children, 85 (43.1%) of them have six and above.Regarding the location, 65 (33.0%)respondents were from urban and 132 (67.0%) were from rural locations.From their responses, 17 (8.6%)were single, 100 (50.8) were married, 44 (22.3%) were divorced, and 36 (18.3%) were been separated from their marriages.Regarding the respondents' employment status, 73 (37.1%) were employed while 124 (62.9%) were not employed.www.nature.com/scientificreports/study.At the point of reaching each gambling centre, participants were solicited to sign up for the study if they wished to participate.Informed consent was obtained from all subjects and/or their legal guardian(s).Thereafter, an envelope that contained copies of questionnaires, pen, and pencil.All in all, all methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations by including a statement in the methods.All participants were asked to move to venues designated by the researchers called collection centres.The collection centres are places identified by the researchers and very close to each gambling venue.Each participant was given a packet of an envelope to complete the instruments within 30 to 40 min.The sitting arrangement during the exercise was an average 7 m away from one participant to another.They were given the opportunity to ask a question if there was any item in the instrument that posed a challenge or they did not understand.There was no incentive given during the study.About 2% of the gamblers who assented to participate in the study returned the instrument uncompleted.

Measures
Kessler's Psychological Distress Scale (K10) assessed the frequency of depressive and anxiety symptoms over the past month on a 4-point Likert scale 41 .The scale has 10 items.This tool has been validated to screen for common mental disorders in developing country settings including India 42,43 .The scale is rated in a 4-Likert option that ranges from None of the time = 1 to All of the time = 5.Any parent with a score of less than 20 is likely to be healthy; those with a score of 20-24 are likely to have a mild mental problem; those with a score of 25-29 are likely to have a moderate mental disorder, and those with a score of 30 or more are likely to have serious mental symptoms.A quarter of the adult population will have a score of 20 or higher, and one out of every four patients seen in primary care will have a score of 20 or higher.In this study, the internal consistency of Kessler's Psychological Distress Scale was 0.72.
The PGSI (Problem Gambling Severity Index) is made up of nine items that are assessed on a four-point scale (0 = Never, 3 = Almost Always) and are based on prior year experiences 44 .The researchers utilized a PGSI 5 criterion for problem gambling (which has been demonstrated to have the highest classification accuracy when compared to clinician evaluations including thorough case conceptualizations), with PGSI 1-4 indicating low to moderate severity issues (given that all such responders were demonstrating at least some signs of problematic gambling).We found a high reliability (0.78) of PGSI.
Participants Demographic Inventory (PDI) is a checklist that finds out the personal information of the participants such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, residence, and working status.

Data analysis
The data collected was analyzed using correlation and hierarchical multiple regression statistics.Correlation analysis was used to test the relationship between the dependent variable and the predictor variables.The hierarchical multiple regression was employed to test the prediction of pathological gambling, by psychological distress and, controlling for socioeconomic status, employment status, number of children, marital status, gender, age, and location.

Results
Table 2 shows the correlation analysis of the dependent variable and the predictor variables.The result shows that psychological distress has a significant positive relationship with pathological gambling (r = 0.483, p ˂ 0.001).This demonstrates that there is a positive association-that is, that psychological distress is a predictor of PG.
On the other hand, Socioeconomic status (r = 0.050, p ˃ 0.244) and the number of children (r = 0.032, p ˃ 0.326) are positively related to pathological gambling.For employment status (r = − 0.020, p ˃ 0.388), marital status (r = − 0.078, p ˃ 0.138), gender (r = − 0.120, p ˃ 0.047), age (r = − 0.021, p ˃ 0.383), and location (r = − 0.014, p ˃ 0.425) were not significantly related to pathological gambling.This implies that persons with psychological distress have higher tendencies for pathological gambling while persons without psychological distress symptoms have lower tendencies for pathological gambling.Table 3 shows the hierarchical regression analysis that was conducted to predict our respondents' pathological gambling behaviours.The predictor variables employed in the regression analysis were entered in three stepwise manner.In the first step, psychological distress was entered as the possible predictor variable of pathological gambling behaviour.The result revealed that PG, R 2 = 0.234, F (1,195) = 59.433, p ˂ 001), R 2 = 0.234.In the second step, the predictor variables economic status and employment status were added to the model which resulted in the model not accounting for any changes in the criterion variable.However, there was no joint significant  In the third step, number of children and marital status were entered into the model.There was also no joint significant contribution to the variances in the responses on pathological gambling behaviours, accounting for 23.8% variances in the respondents' PG, that is, an additional 0.04% above models 1 and 2, R 2 = 0.238, ∆R 2 = 0.004; F (2, 191) = 11.949,p ˂ 0.580, these additional predictor variables made no significant individual contributions to the model β = 0.483, t (7.709) = 0.831; β = 0.014, t (0.213) = 0.780 respectively.Model 4 shows that psychological distress, employment status, socioeconomic status, number of children, marital status, location, age, and gender when taken together did not significantly account for additional variance above and beyond psychological distress scores, R 2 = 0.244, ∆R 2 = 0.006; F (3, 188) = 7.603, p˂0.674; and there were no significant individual contributions to the variances in the PG of our respondents by our respondents' location, age and gender.

Discussion
Our study investigated factors that predict pathological gambling behaviours among parents in Nigeria using hierarchical regression analysis.We found that pathological gambling behaviours was significantly predicted by psychological distress whereas the addition of socio-demographic variables in the models, made no significant variances in the pathological gambling behaviours among Nigerian parents.Individually, none of the socio-demographic variables was able to make a significant contribution to the variances in our respondents' pathological gambling behaviours.
Our finding that showed a significant relationship between psychological distress and pathological gambling behaviours of our respondents is consistent with the existing body of literature that has demonstrated that psychological distress is associated with gambling 45,46 .The relationship between psychological distress and our respondents' gambling problems was so strong that even when the socio-demographic variables were added to the model, the association remained strong.It indicated that the higher the psychological distress of our respondents, the more likely they are vulnerable to engage in problematic gambling behaviours.Similar studies have revealed that people who have problematic gambling behaviours are more likely to have higher psychological distress scores than non-gamblers 36 .There have been attempts to unravel the link between psychological distress and pathological gambling behaviours.A study conducted among Finish and US respondents has shown that irrespective of the fact that psychological distress has a direct effect on gambling behaviours, consumer debt, and debt problems could be a factor that can explain the association between these two variables especially among Finish respondents 47 .This explains that when gamblers face gambling problems they are likely to have deteriorating well-being.Similarly, laboratory gambling experiments have demonstrated that sensitivity to stress may predispose people to high-risk gambling behaviours 48 .Indicating that people who may be distressed are likely to experience gambling problems.
Furthermore, the present results revealed no significant joint and individual variable contributions of the economic and employment status variable to variances in our respondents' pathological gambling behaviours scores in the second model two.What this implies is that a unit increase in our respondents' economic and employment status did not have a consequent increase or decrease in their pathological gambling behaviours.This contradicts the findings of some related studies that showed that unemployed people are less likely to engage in gambling than those who are employed 15 .The researchers explained that even though the unemployed may engage in gambling they are limited to gambling engagement due to financial constraints.Similarly, a perceived economic status which encompasses the way and manner they perceived their earnings and occupational prestige among themselves did not also account for the variances in their pathological behaviours.This also contradicts similar findings that show that lower economic status is linked to problematic gambling.In our study, there is no association between gambling behaviours and economic status.However, there are indications that low economic status could predispose people to at-risk gambling 49 .
More so, the third model did not show any significant improvement to the model.The ∆R 2 was insignificant.Whereas the number of children and marital status made no individual contributions to the variances in the respondents' pathological gambling behaviours, their psychological distress remained a significant predictor of the outcome variable.Studies that focused on marital status and gambling have revealed that being un-partnered associated with loneliness could result in gambling problems, and that un-partnered older adults are likely to have gambling problems 50 .Reasons advanced for this is that they are likely to be lonely resulting in their continuous engagement in gambling.Our finding did not show that marital status accounted for a variation in our respondents' gambling behaviours, thereby contradicting this view.Our results also showed that the number of children our respondents have is not associated with pathological gambling behaviours.Though, there appears to be no evidence in literature on how the number of children in a household is associated with parents' gambling behave, it could be theorized that financial stress associated with having higher number of children could be associated with less attempts to engage in gambling.Hence, expectations could be that those who have more children are less likely to have more gambling problems than those who do not few children.This could be supported by the fact that studies have shown that gambling is associated with higher household income 51 .However, our findings contradicted this assumption.
Our last model did not indicate a significant contribution of the addition of gender, age, and location (primary residence of the respondents) to the model.There was also no significant joint contribution to the variances in our respondents' pathological gambling behaviours, the ∆R 2 remained insignificant.Gender was not a significant predictor of pathological gambling behaviours in our study.A plethora of studies have shown how significant gender is in gambling research.Venne et al. 52 53 found that gender is significantly associated with gambling expenditure, and women are less likely to engage in betting than men 54 .Being male could be a risk factor in harmful gambling 55 , given that males are more inclined to strategy games than their female counterparts.However, our findings showed a non-significant association of gender with problematic gambling behaviours implying that problematic gambling behaviours may be similar across gender among our respondents.This aligns with a recent understanding that has shown that, in many respects, women and men may have similar gambling experiences 52 .Similarly, age was not a significant predictor of gambling behaviours among our respondents.This implies that variances in pathological gambling behaviours among our respondents were not dependent on the age bracket they fall in.Our findings appear to contradict similar findings that have indicated that age is a significant factor in gambling behaviours problems 56 , and that older gamblers are likely to have fewer gambling problems than younger gamblers 10 .In our study we considered the residence of our respondents as being an important factor in predicting their gambling behaviours.However, our findings indicated no significant variances accounted for by the primary residence of our respondents implying that where our respondents live may not be a significant factor in determining whether they will have pathological gambling behaviours or not.Previous studies are indicative that urbanity has negative effects on gambling expenditure 51 , and gambling problems are estimated to be higher among rural dwellers than urban dwellers 57 .

Conclusions, implications, and limitations
Our findings have demonstrated the complementary relationship between psychological distress and the pathological gambling behaviours of our respondents while controlling for their demographic variables using a multiple-stepwise regression model.The impact of psychological distress remained significant on our respondents' pathological gambling behaviours irrespective of the inclusion of demographic variables in the models.We conclude from the findings that gamblers' psychological well-being is crucial to understanding their problematic gambling behaviours in the context of a developing nation such as Nigeria and that this could be similar among our respondents.
There are significant theoretical and practical implications regarding the significant impact of psychological distress on our respondents' pathological gambling behaviours.First, it could be that problematic gambling behaviours are follow-up to the distresses gamblers may encounter as a result of losses they encounter during gambling endeavours.Within the Nigerian context where it has been noted that the quest for quick money and avarice may be responsible for a positive attitude to gambling 58 , the incongruity that may exist between this quest and the reality could lead to distress which is likely to lead to pathological gambling behaviours given that psychological distress has been linked to cognitive distortion 59 , and pathological gambling associated with biased information 60 .Practical implications of our study include the fact that for problematic gambling behaviours to be addressed there is a need that interventions programmes targeted at enhancing their psychological well-being are mounted.This could be in the form of cognitive-based psychotherapies.
As the therapists assist the problem gamblers, there should policy framework that will recognise the percentage of males and females who have mental health issues.The recognition would give room for the provision of mental health services irrespective of their locations.Hopefully, this will offer a practical approach to gambling operatives.By extension, the gambling operation will also receive regulatory structure expanding to divergent populations.For instance, creating algorithms to identify risky play levels (in online environments) or by voluntarily imposing time and financial constraints 61 .Following the above premises, scientific society such as gambling researchers and mental health researchers could set up investigative research to examine the achievement and progress.This is because there are need for a systematic reframing of the psychological and health problems that are associated with pathological gambling and how they affect communities, individuals, and families 62,63 .The engagement of scientific communities and policymakers will strengthen the efforts to reduce the negative influence of commercial, governmental, and regulatory forces in forming the conditions that give rise to these harms.
Notwithstanding that our study has made a significant contribution to gambling studies-being the first study within the Nigerian context to examine the impact of psychological distress on gambling behaviours while controlling for socio-demographic variables-it has some limitations that may compound its generalizations.First, reliance on respondents' responses without observation of their actual gambling behaviour would not warrant that causal relationships among the variables under examination are drawn.However, the nature of the study makes this design appropriate.One should be careful to interpret the findings in the light of the cause-and-effect paradigm.Second, the use of only questionnaire for data collection may likely be a limitation to the generalization of our study.Future research may need to use a mixed-method approach so that findings will be triangulated.

Table 1 .
Demographic characteristics of the study participants (n = 197).

Table 2 .
Correlation analysis of the dependent variable and the predictor variables (N = 197).PGS problem gambling severity, KPDS Kessler's psychological distress scale, SES socioeconomic status, ES employment status, NC number of children, MS marital status.**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).